Mercenaries/Session 2C
20:00 <~abudhabi> Gentlemen. 20:02 -!- maz is now known as Natsu 20:02 <~abudhabi> What were you lot doing last time* 20:02 <~abudhabi> ? 20:02 -!- Nuramor Nuramor@Nightstar-ht4ke1.dip0.t-ipconnect.de has joined #Traveller 20:02 <&Natsu> fucked If I know, proably working while listening to you guys play :p 20:04 <~abudhabi> We'll wait for Liam. 20:09 <~abudhabi> OK. 20:12 -!- Liam Liam@Nightstar-4dvhla.range31-54.btcentralplus.com has joined #Traveller 20:12 -!- Liam is now known as Nevar 20:12 <~abudhabi> OK. Last time, you interrogated the prisoner until you got kicked out by the doctor. 20:12 -!- Nuramor is now known as Proteus 20:13 <~abudhabi> Leaving her in the capable hands of the rent-a-cop. 20:13 < Proteus> ((Shes so gonna break out)) 20:14 <~abudhabi> Doing anything else tonight, or giving in to the human need for sleep? 20:14 * Nevar sleeeep! 20:15 -!- Nevar is now known as Nev 20:15 <&Remmon> Sleep is good. 20:15 -!- Remmon is now known as Arthur 20:15 * Proteus sleeps too. Nothing else going on atm. 20:16 <~abudhabi> OK. And Natsu is recovering from his revelry. 20:16 <&Natsu> "huzza" 20:17 <~abudhabi> You all get a relatively good night's sleep. At 8 o'clock station time sharp, there's someone at the ship's airlock, buzzing the doorbell. 20:18 * Arthur checks who's there 20:18 <~abudhabi> Arthur: It's the police. Same lieutenant. 20:19 * Arthur goes to talk to them 20:20 * Nev will also go with 20:20 <~abudhabi> "We've got a warrant for the arrest of a Zhodani captive you are holding." 20:20 <&Arthur> "You didn't get the message? They're in the hospital." 20:21 <~abudhabi> The lieutenant stares at you, as if he wants to call you a name. "Broder, check that." 20:22 <~abudhabi> One of his underlings makes a call on the comm. 20:23 <~abudhabi> It's subvocal - after half a minute, he says out loud: "It's true! Prisoner's under privsec guard." 20:24 <~abudhabi> Lieutenant: "OK, we're done here. Go back to whatever you were doing," he tells you. 20:24 <~abudhabi> The whole team marches off towards the hospital. 20:26 < Nev> "huh.. almost like they didn't want to have a cup of cofee and a chat, not very friendly i say" 20:26 <~abudhabi> (Maybe they got chewed out by the judge again. :V) 20:27 <&Arthur> "It's the job." 20:28 < Nev> "sooo.... what next?" 20:29 <&Arthur> "And now, we continue waiting..." 20:29 <~abudhabi> (You giving up so easily on that bet, Arthur?) 20:29 <&Arthur> (Of course not) 20:32 <~abudhabi> How long are you going to wait? 20:32 < Nev> ((at least a week?)) 20:32 <&Arthur> A couple of hours, then it's time to go poking around again. 20:33 <~abudhabi> A couple of hours passes. 20:35 * Arthur goes poking around BuZho again to see if they've managed to make the Zhodani prisoner talk any. 20:35 * Natsu groggily wakes up in the hospital? 20:35 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Are you going through official channels. 20:36 <~abudhabi> Natsu: Indeed! A pleasant-looking nurse is bringing you breakfast. 20:36 <&Arthur> Official channels are highly inefficient. I'll try the unofficial ones. 20:36 <&Natsu> "Breakfast in bed, awesome" 20:37 <~abudhabi> Nev: You get a bill for 9000 credits from the hospital in your mail. 20:38 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Roll Int + Streetwise. 20:38 <&Arthur> !2d6+3: Int+Streetwise 20:38 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "Int+Streetwise": (6+2)+3. Total: 11. 20:42 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You get hold of a low-level employee. After being suitably impressed with your importance, he divulges that the prisoner has been moved to the Governor's private medical facilities. Apparently, this is a high-ranking captive. Ransom demands are probably being written right now. 20:42 * Nev has to pay a bill - I'll do that today 20:44 <~abudhabi> Natsu: In addition to breakfast, you get a bill for 500 Cr, for your stay. 20:44 * Natsu pays, while looking suggestivley at the nurse who brought breakfast 20:47 <~abudhabi> Natsu: Shortly after breakfast, you get discharged. 20:48 * Arthur facepalms at the idea of ransom demands, hopes someone's smart enough to do some interrogating. 20:51 <~abudhabi> Proteus: Are you contemplating in depth the level of boredom you will be forced to endure while waiting for six to twelve weeks here? 20:52 < Proteus> Something along that line. 20:53 < Proteus> How does skill progression work again? 20:54 <~abudhabi> Proteus: Training a new skill takes a number of weeks equal to the TOTAL SUM OF YOUR SKILLS plus the NEW LEVEL THAT YOU ARE TRAINING. 20:58 <~abudhabi> Any other ideas, Arthur? 20:58 < Proteus> Then I'd like to train my Gun Combat(Slug Rifles) 0 -> 1 20:58 <&Arthur> Nope, drawing a blank. 20:59 < Nev> ((do I win my bet yet?)) 20:59 <&Arthur> ((It seems you do)) 21:00 < Proteus> Would work out to 10 weeks of training, so comfortably within our time on planet ;) 21:00 <~abudhabi> OK. If Arthur is forfeiting, then decide your long-term actions (if any). You could train, for example, or do anything else with a big base time. 21:01 * Nev will finish training 21:01 * Arthur starts training on Stealth 1. 21:02 <~abudhabi> Natsu? 21:04 <&Natsu> Training, adding 6 weeks towards the already accrewed time on taking explosives from 1 > 2 weeks needed 21:04 <&Natsu> ((lost track of some of the jumps because I was working a few times) 21:04 <~abudhabi> !roll 5+1d7: Let's see how long before people arrive 21:04 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "Let's see how long before people arrive": 5+(4). Total: 9. 21:04 <~abudhabi> 9 weeks. 21:05 <~abudhabi> You get to spend nine boring weeks at this outpost. Fortunately, you have your Edu-ROMs to keep you busy! 21:06 <~abudhabi> Arthur finally gets a summons to the hearing the next day. 21:06 <~abudhabi> Arthur's crew, meaning the rest of you, is also invited. 21:09 <~abudhabi> Formal attire is expected. No weapons excepting optionally a blade if any of you are highborn. 21:09 * Nev will stopp off and buy a nice suit before going to this thing then 21:10 * Proteus too, I guess 21:10 * Arthur has a nice suit 21:10 * Natsu would like to stay behind as he hates being without his weapons 21:11 <~abudhabi> This kind of 'invitation' is like an officer telling you to do something 'at your convenience'. 21:12 * Natsu will attend, but will be wearing clothes he already owns. stubbon like that! 21:12 <~abudhabi> OK. 21:12 <&Natsu> cloth Armour 21:13 < Nev> ((how much to buy a nice suit here?)) 21:15 <~abudhabi> Nev: Nice? The non-cheapo suits start at like 1000 credits. Custom-tailored, need-it-tomorrow you can get for 5000 credits. There might be nicer stuff, but it's not going to get made quickly enough. 21:15 < Nev> ((I'll take one of the best I can get at 5k)) 21:15 <~abudhabi> Sold! 21:17 < Proteus> ((I don't need a custom tailored one. I'd like to go with a more reasonably priced one.)) 21:17 <~abudhabi> Then the 1000 creds option seems for you. 21:18 < Proteus> Sure 21:19 <~abudhabi> Very well! You seem all set. The hearing begins 10 AM, groundside, at the Ministry of Justice, conference room 3B. 21:21 <~abudhabi> I presume you will be timely? 21:21 * Arthur will be and will make sure the others are. 21:22 * Nev will be there 21:22 * Natsu might be dressed like a spacer, but he'll be on time 21:22 * Proteus is on time as well 21:25 <~abudhabi> You take a shuttle down to the planet, and make your way to the hearing. You find that it's one of the fancier places. There are formally-dressed guards, toting totally non-ceremonial weapons. 21:27 <~abudhabi> Your identity gets verified and in you go. 21:27 * Nev make sure to get natsu inside before he starts either insulting their weapons (and manhood) or slobering over the high tech lazer death guns they're holding 21:28 * Natsu stares at the weapons longfully 21:29 <~abudhabi> You get escorted to the appropriate chamber. The conference room has been arranged into two tables/desks facing each other. You presumably get to sit at the one with four seats; the other has three. "Please be seated. The committee will be along presently." 21:29 * Arthur gets seated 21:30 * Nev sits on his left hand side 21:31 * Proteus follows their lead 21:32 * Natsu sits with his arms folded 21:36 <~abudhabi> Five minutes later, one of the side doors opens, and three people enter. One wears a black robe with gold trimmings, an elderly man. The second is a woman, apparently middle age, wearing a frumpy, but well-tailored and bejeweled dress. The third is a non-descript man in a high quality suit that just looks out-of-place on him. 21:36 <~abudhabi> One of the guards/heralds announces them: 21:37 <~abudhabi> "The Lord Commissioner of Regina, joined by the Arch-Exchequer of Vilis, and the Head of the Zhodani Bureau." 21:37 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You know that last guy. You met him in the pub! 21:37 * Arthur had his suspicions about that. 21:38 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Don't get up. This is an informal event." 21:40 <~abudhabi> The three sit down opposite you. They have a couple of aides following them, who start unloading documents of TL between 5 and 15. 21:40 <~abudhabi> (Onto their table.) 21:40 <~abudhabi> When that gets done, the aides leave, and shut the door behind them. 21:42 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Now, then. Orfeo Cingolani, better known as Arthur Steinmann, with crew - am I right?" 21:42 <&Arthur> "That is correct." 21:43 * Natsu looks at Arthur incredulously 21:43 * Nev is not surprised at all, maybe has to stop himself laughing at 'Orfeo' though 21:46 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Good. It would have been a complete and utter waste of our time getting here if we had the wrong man. I would normally prefer to just interrogate the good Captain, but the evidence seized indicates that you all are up to your ears in this mess." 21:47 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "Except the engineer." 21:47 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Yes, I suppose so. Only up to chest, that one." 21:48 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "Let's not waste any more time. Do you know why you have been called here?" 21:49 <&Arthur> "That would be our involvement with the revolution on Romar." 21:50 <~abudhabi> Commissioner, holding up a datapad: "In your own words, summarize the events on Romar, beginning with your arrival." 21:53 <&Arthur> "At the time, we were attempting to track down the origins of the replicant that replacement the duke of Tobia. Our travels led us to Romar where I decided to make some enquiries to see anybody had noticed anything suspicious. Our destination at the time was Glisten, as we believed the technology to have come from the Darrian Confederacy or thereabouts." 21:54 <&Arthur> "During those inquiries, I discovered a revolutionary plot to overthrow the government. Believing the local government security forces to be compromised, I prepared my crew to deal with the issue as subtly as possible. Given the location of the targets, I then arranged a meeting with the local chief of police." 21:55 <&Arthur> "I laid down my evidence and told him I had a team ready to decapitate this revolution. He declined my offer and said he would take care of matters himself. So I left for the ship." 21:56 <&Arthur> "The chief informed some others, prepared a team of his own and either the information was leaked before he got there or he was simply woefully unprepared to deal with the revolutionaries. They promptly struck back and took control of the government palace, killing the governor." 21:58 <&Arthur> "We were then contacted by loyalist military forces and offered a mercenary contract to help them reestablish control of the region. After accepting that contract we flew our starship over to the palace and offered the rebels a chance to surrender. When they opened fire upon our vessel and my battle dress equipped marine outside, we returned fire, effectively destroying the revolutionary forces. As far as I'm aware, the only collateral dama 21:58 <&Arthur> ge in the incident was the government palace." 22:02 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Very good. This summary is consistent with the evidence and witness reports. The committee finds your actions on Roman justified, if heavy-handed." 22:04 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "Moving on to ancillary matters." 22:04 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "I believe that Mr. Stillman is the ship's accountant, correct?" 22:05 < Nev> "Errrr... Thats correct sir" 22:07 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "I prefer 'madam', Mr. Stillman..." (You can see the Commissioner discreetly rolling his eyes.) "...but that's not the major objection I have. Frankly, I object to your financial record." 22:08 < Nev> "I see, in what way Madam?" 22:11 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "It leaves a lot to be desired. You seem to constantly run into delays in payments, and considerably more of them than is usual for an independent trader. Additionally, our investigation into your financial history finds that one of our covert agencies has footed a bill to the order of 47.7 megacredits at the Tonnurad shipyard." 22:11 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "The agent describes this as a loan, but I do not see any attempt to pay that money back." 22:12 < Nev> "wait, what?" 22:12 * Nev shoots a look at Arthur 22:14 <&Arthur> "I was not at the time under the impression that the money was a loan, rather it was an attempt to ensure we could reach the fleet heading into Tobia with crucial information before they arrived." 22:14 < Nev> "Payment delays usually come about due to us having to hide or run from one thing or another. As for the modifications - I'm afraid you'd have to ask the captain." 22:16 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "It was an attempt to ensure you reach where you were going, which succeeded, but the Imperium is not in the business of giving money away. The only reason you got that money was because you truly did have legitimate reasons to need it." 22:17 <&Arthur> "Then I was mistaken and I'm sure we can arrange terms for repayment. We have acquired a fair sum of money on our travels so far, Nev will undoubtedly be able to work something out." 22:18 * Nev is looking quite pale and slightly shell shocked 22:18 < Nev> "what payment terms are we looking at? What interest over what period?" 22:20 <~abudhabi> AE: "My aides will negotiate the particular terms. I expect you will be content to accept retroactive mortgage on the components acquired in Tonnurad?" 22:21 < Nev> "I doubt there is a choice int the matter really" 22:22 <~abudhabi> AE: "Very good. I am content that any shortcomings will become rectified." 22:24 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Next matter on the agenda..." He flips paper documents and datapads. "...is the matter of the events on Laberv." 22:25 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "I would like an in-your-own-words summary of what happened there. Feel free to supplement your Captain's story, all of you, if need be." 22:26 <&Arthur> "Shortly after arriving on Laberv, our engineer was kidnapped by a local crime syndicate." 22:27 <&Arthur> "During our attempts to negotiate his release, we became aware of the location of his captors and his likely location. In order to discourage further kidnappings, I took this information to the planet's chief of police in order to have our engineer extracted by local forces." 22:29 <&Arthur> "Upon arrival however, I found that the police apparatus on Laberv was thoroughly corrupted. Given the choice between paying an unreasonable sum of money to a gang of criminals or attempting to extract our engineer ourselves, I decided the latter option to be superior even in the event we failed to extract our engineer alive." 22:31 <&Arthur> "Through verbal intimidation and bluffing, I ensured the local police would not become involved, then we moved on the criminal's hideout with the intention of taking them captive if possible. Upon making entry to their hideout, we discovered they were equipped with military grade equipment." 22:31 <&Natsu> "Fuckers shot be with a rocket" 22:31 <&Natsu> (*me) 22:32 <&Arthur> "We employed all necessary force in an attempt to retrieve our engineer, injuring and killing most of the criminals involved. Unfortunately they had already executed him. We took one of them captive and retreated to our ship. Upon arrival at the starport, I personally delivered my captive to the local starport police before taking my ship off planet." 22:33 < Nev> "The fact that our engineer had knowledge of what was going on with regards to the duke and our mission contributed to the decision - preventing that kind of information from spreading seemed valuable" 22:33 <&Arthur> "Quite." 22:35 <&Arthur> "After taking off without incident and during our approach to the hundred diameter limit, we were contacted by Darrian confederacy warships in orbit. They ordered us to stop our engines, which we complied with. I then engaged in dialogue with their commander, determined that they were suspectable to bribery and would almost certainly deliver us directly to the local government which we already knew to be corrupt." 22:35 <&Arthur> "At that point, I made the decision to evade capture given the likely consequences of our capture, we escaped into jump." 22:36 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "From a gravity well and survived doing it. Neat trick." 22:37 <&Arthur> "Courtesy of our current engineer, who turned out to be quite capable at handling a jump drive." 22:38 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Expound a bit on the topic of your engineer, the previous one. Who was he? What was your relationship?" 22:39 <&Arthur> "Ishmael was... An interesting figure." 22:39 <&Arthur> "We stumbled upon him in a crippled starship near Pichot, while we were running from Ayldem to Tobia." 22:40 <&Arthur> "At the time, we didn't have a qualified engineer and he was rather stuck in orbit upon a crippled ship. So we offered him a ride to Tobia in exchange for his services as an engineer." 22:41 <&Arthur> "Didn't quite expect things to turn out the way they did. We had to jump out from under the nose of a squadron of Imperial warships that time." 22:41 <&Arthur> "Given the choice between being stuck on Tonnurad for however long and joining us back into Imperial space, he decided to join us and he kind of stuck around afterwards." 22:42 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Were you friends? Or just employer and employee?" 22:43 <&Natsu> "He was a good engineer, not as odd at that bloody bug, who tried setting fire to all my stuff" 22:43 <&Natsu> (as*) 22:44 <&Arthur> "Stuck a starship as small as ours, there is not much difference between the two. The cramped quarters and weeks in jump space with little else to do ensures that a small starship's crew is inevitable tight." 22:44 <&Arthur> *Stuck on a 22:45 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "I see. If so, why did you not negotiate for his release?" 22:46 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "According to our information, a million credits is not that large an expense to you." 22:46 <&Arthur> "It would set a very bad precedent. If kidnapping the crew of Imperial vessels turns a profit, more will turn to that line of work." 22:47 <&Arthur> "If it makes you dead, others will be wary of making the same mistakes." 22:49 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Hrm. I see... For that matter, didn't your crew number one more at the time?" 22:50 <&Arthur> "Quite, Ziggy. She was an unfortunate example of what happens when someone starts making trouble and you don't let go of them in time." 22:51 <&Arthur> "Unfortunately, the trouble with her didn't really start until after we had left Imperial space and given her knowledge of our operations, I felt it would have been irresponsible to drop her off in the Darrian confederacy." 22:52 <&Arthur> "Ultimately, she attempted a mutiny after the events at Junction, during which she was shot dead by Natsu. Which unfortunately caused our three month delay and the missed payments incurred during that time, as the jump drive malfunctioned mid jump due to damage sustained in the incident." 22:54 <&Natsu> "She shot first!" 22:55 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Yes... that version of events is corroborated by your ship's logs, at least. I would like to believe in that version, but then, there's the matter of the artificial intelligence you've had on-board. Quite the advanced piece of technology. How did you happen to acquire it?" 22:57 <&Arthur> "When we landed on Our Planet, we were accosted by a spambot of some sort. I'm not quite sure how, however it ended attempting to infect our ship's computer and the ship's computer had an intellect program loaded. The two became intermingled somehow and when we left the world, during jump, it started to spread to all of our computer equipment." 22:58 <&Arthur> "Fortunately it retained the intellect program's built in chain of command and other such features, so we were able to bring it under control." 22:59 <&Arthur> "Upon arrival on Mirage, we quarantined the system and built the cluster computer your people have since removed from our ship. We moved the AI into it and isolated it it from all outside communication, figuring that if it really was as advanced as it seemed, it might lead to some breakthrough in AI design." 23:00 <&Arthur> "We took a detour to Research Station Beta in the Gazulin subsector, where the local scientists performed as thorough an examination as they were capable of. They concluded that it was not a true AI and that it did not appear to be a significant risk. As such we kept it aboard and used its abilities on several occassions afterwards, where we felt there was no other way to gather information critical to our mission." 23:02 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "And these abilities are?" 23:02 <&Arthur> "It is alarmingly good at compromising other computer systems." 23:04 <&Arthur> "Most likely, it would be capable of many other tasks, given the right expertsofts. It is after all based on a starship intellect system." 23:06 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "Fascinating." 23:06 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Very well. Of the major points of hearing, there remains the matter of Junction. Care to provide a summary of that as well?" 23:07 * Natsu *clearly bored with all the pomp* makes an exasperated sigh, and fidgets in his seat 23:07 <&Arthur> "We determined in the course of our investigation that Junction was either the next stepping point or the origin of the replicant and psionic materials we were chasing down." 23:08 <&Arthur> "Upon our arrival there, we noted a Zhodani scout is high orbit and an outpost on the ground. We made a pass over the outpost without incident to obtain some scans, revealing a small outpost and some digging going on. Initially we believed it to be simple fortifications or something similar." 23:09 <&Arthur> "We then investigated the local population and found that the base had been recently moved there and that there was some big excavation on going. Intrigued by the possibilities, we decided to attempt to recover information from the Zhodani scout on our way out of the system, figuring that if the information recovered showed it was not of interest to us, we could simply leave the system." 23:10 <&Arthur> "Upon hacking their systems, they immediately began to fire upon our vessel and we returned fire. Unfortunately one of my gunners got a little overzealous and instead of disabling the scout, it was reduced to wreckage." 23:11 <&Arthur> "We closed with the wreckage in the hope of rescueing its crew, but were only able to recover the one prisoner you now have in your custody." 23:11 <&Arthur> "Based on the information we recovered in the hacking attempt and the fact we were immediately attacked, we decided to close with the Zhodani facility and investigate further, as it had no obvious anti-starship weaponry." 23:13 <&Arthur> "We discovered a two kilometer deep shaft into the planet and flew our ship down it, as the Zhodani at the base appeared to have fled down the hole. On the way down, our computer systems came under attack from the Zhodani in the facility, who had unknown to use managed to revive some of the computer systems." 23:13 <&Arthur> "When their attack seemed likely to succeed, we used our AI to defend. When they failed to respond to attempts to communicate, we instructed our AI to return the favour and disable their system." 23:13 * Natsu mumbles seomthing about "you said disable, I did disable it... just a bit too much" 23:15 <&Arthur> "In the process of doing so, it somehow activated the base's AI, which apparently merged with a copy of our AI or something along those lines. It decided that the Zhodani inside it were hostile and exterminated them with extreme prejudice. It then helped us refuel our vessel and effect what little repairs we needed. It transferred a considerable amount of information and the replicant we brought here, all of which you now have." 23:16 <&Arthur> "After that, we left, intending to deliver information regarding the facility to the nearest Imperial world in order to get an expedition out there before the Zhodani or the Darrians figured out it was there. Due to the aforementioned mutiny, we were considerably delayed in doing so." 23:17 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Does your crew wish to add anything else to that?" 23:18 < Nev> "The facility, we discovered, had been used by the Zhodani to create advanced repleclants of individuals, for example the duke an additional copy of which the site provided us, as evidence of the Zhodiani involvement in the replacement of the original duke" 23:18 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "Good job on that assignment." 23:18 <&Natsu> "No." 23:19 * Natsu mumbles some more "waste of fucking time, I could be back on board servicing my magrail" 23:20 < Proteus> "Nothing to add on my part." 23:20 * Nev resolves to dock natsu's alcohol rations on ship after we take off for all this mumbling and grumbling 23:20 * Arthur plans to have the ship's hull shined until he can see his reflection on it, by a certain marine. 23:21 <&Arthur> (Weather's probably already ruined the job you did 9 weeks ago) 23:21 <~abudhabi> The committee have been largely ignoring Natsu this whole time, and continue to do so. 23:22 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "That about covers the topics we wanted your version of the story on." 23:23 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Now, allow me to fill you in on the version of the story that has reached us so far." 23:26 <~abudhabi> C: "Per our Darrian allies, you have committed many, varied and grand criminal acts. You stand accused of, among others," he reads from a slate, "four counts of individual murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of illegal weaponry, threatening Darrian officials, attempting to bribe Darrian officials, resisting arrest, misuse of a starship, grand irradiation of an inhabited world..." 23:26 <~abudhabi> He takes another datapad. 23:27 <~abudhabi> C: "...misuse of Ancient artifacts, genocide and another count of resisting arrest." 23:28 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "You forgot a count of murder of a Darrian citizen." 23:28 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Quite." 23:28 * Nev wonders just how many times they can execute us 23:29 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Just so you know, they *have* lodged an official extradition request, that you may be tried in the Confederation." 23:30 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "And the Emperor, through his Ministries, has a habit of granting such requests." 23:31 < Nev> "since you are expecing us to repay a loan would I be correct in assuming thats not going to happen this time?" 23:32 <~abudhabi> Arch-Exchequer: "Very astute, Mr. Stillman." 23:32 < Nev> "I'm usually very attentive when my life is on the line" 23:32 <&Arthur> "I'm quite confident any impartial court would, upon reviewing all the evidence, find myself innocent of most of those crimes. Which leaves the question of whether you would prefer to deny extradition or if it would be preferable for captain Steinmann and the Heimdall to suffer an unfortunate accident." 23:37 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "I am sure. You are in luck, for three reasons. One, you know too damn much--" 23:37 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "--which should be obvious, given our lack of care to hide Imperial secrets from you during this hearing--" 23:39 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "--two, because having you disappeared would damage our relations with our allies, serving as an admission of guilt; or otherwise we would take a huge risk on the truthfulness of your claim." 23:40 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "Three, because we have received another extradition request, which coincidentally arrived before the Darrian one." 23:40 <&Arthur> "The Zhodani?" 23:41 <~abudhabi> BuZho snorts. 23:41 <&Arthur> "Because I don't remember pissing off any other major governments outside the Imperium." 23:42 < Nev> "sword worlds?" 23:45 <~abudhabi> BuZho: "No, it's not the Consulate or the Sword Worlds. Mr. Proteus, you are, effective immediately, a naturalized Imperial citizen. All four of you are immediately transfered to the Ministry of the State, Intelligence Division, Zhodani Bureau." 23:45 <~abudhabi> The other two nod. 23:46 * Nev looks at Proteus 23:46 < Nev> "What did you do?" 23:46 < Proteus> "I have no idea?" 23:47 <~abudhabi> The Commissioner clears his throat. 23:47 * Nev looks at the commissioner 23:47 < Nev> "Ok... so what did we do?" 23:49 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "You and your ship will board the Imperial Cruiser 'Shardik', pending your formal extradition to the Republic of Faisal, pending your trial for the crime of illicit water intake." 23:50 < Nev> "...." 23:51 <~abudhabi> Commissioner: "This hearing is over. Dismissed." 23:51 < Proteus> ((I realise this is gonna make their day.)) 23:51 < Proteus> "...What?" 23:52 <~abudhabi> (You refuelled illegally on Faisal, and Arthur insulted the locals when they objected. So they sent a complaint to the Imperium, their overlords.) 23:52 <~abudhabi> And with that, we'll end the sesssion. 23:53 <~abudhabi> See you guys next week!